Dear Parents,
Today's announcement that there is a case of COVID-19 in the community which has resulted in the Prime Minister announcing that Auckland will enter a Level 4 lockdown for the next seven days starting at 11.59 p.m. tonight.
At Alert Level 4 schools will be physically closed from 11.59 tonight and will remain that way for seven days here in Auckland. The Prime Minister has initially said that there is to be no bubble school at this stage. All children need to remain at home. Senior staff already developed a plan in preparation for this happening which was shared with our Board of Trustees at their monthly meeting last night. We are well placed to manage distance learning and to provide support for whānau during this time.
This newsletter provides detailed information about how we can continue to support your child’s learning during this time. Please have a careful read!
SCREENMEADOWS ONLINE LEARNING
Over the next two days, teachers will be updating and organising their online learning programmes for classrooms. Our staff will be organising both their distance learning programme, but also their own whānau, and we know parents understand that. We will look to launch “Screenmeadows” in some part on Friday, with full lessons beginning next Monday.
We are aware that some students will not have devices at home so will at this point have trouble accessing their devices. I am at this stage, unsure whether we will be able to access school devices for distribution to the home - as soon as I receive guidance from the Ministry of Education, I will let people know if the school can assist with device provision. Until further notice, “Screenmeadows” will be how our tamariki will learn from home until we are all able to return to school.
We encourage parents to revisit the "Screenmeadows Guide for Parents" as a good reminder of what the expectations are for learning and how you can support your child in their home learning. The guide also includes a link to a video which shows parents how to help their child to log in to the classroom if you are unsure how to do this. There is new information in the guide relating to specialist classes and how these will work this week.
Students have also been shared into their own guide - you can access a copy of this here.
If your child is experiencing difficulties accessing the google classroom or Mathletics, in the first instance, do email the class teacher. Email addresses for all teachers are on our school website.
DIVERSITY FESTIVAL
The Diversity Festival will not take place next week. I know choir students will be gutted! As am I! However, I am hopeful this will be able to be postponed to a later date. I will keep everyone informed.
KAWAU CAMP
It is highly unlikely that Kawau Camp will be able to go ahead from the 30th August. The camp is only able to go ahead under Alert Level 2 and I suspect we won’t go straight from Level 4 to Level 2 in one jump!! I will know more in the next few days. Should we need to cancel, we will organise refunds to parents and will make contact directly with parents to get their bank account details.
COMMUNICATION DURING THIS TIME
During these times, the schools main communications are through email, the school app, Facebook and the school website. Please make sure you have downloaded the school app (SchoolAppsNZ then search for Greenmeadows Intermediate once downloaded) and follow our Facebook page so you receive new notifications or messages.
I do encourage parents to make sure we have your correct contact details - especially email addresses. Teachers are likely to be contacting families of students who are not accessing the google classroom over the next few days to see if they need any further help logging in etc.
Stay safe in your bubble everyone! Let’s work together to stop the spread! We have done it before and we can do it again. Together we can do this! Please do feel free to contact me at any time! I am always happy to help where I can.
Ngā mihi
Cathy Chalmers
Principal